Page 24 - Lamplight Magazine (1)

WHAT S o much dreck p asses for cultur ally imp ortan t art just
because it p rofesses an ost ensible c ommitmen t t o iden tity
p olitics, viz. B lack Pan t her , and C a p t ain Marvel . To e xamine the
former, the unp rec eden t ed starring-role of black sup erheroes in
IS IT TO a Hollyw ood blockbust er has been invest ed with enormous
signific anc e as a landmark for the cultur al and social sta tus of
B lac k p eop le, regardless of African-A mericans still suffering
BE ‘WOKE’? disp rop ortiona t ely in c omp arison t o whit e A mericans on many

me tric s of w ell-being: be it r a t es of in f an t mortality or r a t es of
incarc er a tion. It is as if the sup erfic ialities of sci-fi and f an tas y
are p roffered as a kind of salve and c onsola tion t o op p ressed
p eop les, in susp ension of a gr and salvifi c even t. I ronic ally, this
O rigina ting in African-A merican vernacular, it is t o be
c onscious of the opp ression suffered by various ca t eg ories relianc e on these g enres almost sug g ests tha t visions of social
justic e are c onc eivable only as make-believe.
of p er sons; be it on grounds of e thnicity, g ender iden tity,
se xual orien ta tion, g ender, disability, or religious belie f A nd if w e e xamine C a p t ain Marvel , w e see some of the most
egregious e ffects of liber al feminism on culture: a no tion of
and o ther iden tities besides (the order is no t ac ciden tal),
but also of one’s o wn iden tity and f unction within these feminism under st ood as little else than for w omen t o p ar allel the
p uta tive s y st ems of op pression. I n short, t o be Woke is t o behaviour s, a ttitudes and norms of tr aditional masc ulinity with no
critique of imp erialism or cap italism in the w orkings of p o w er.
loca t e iden tity as the salien t causal f act or in human
rela tions and in socie ty t oo; it is t o under stand the C a p t ain Marvel is as the w or st kind of badass, ’y as q ueen’ of
Woke feminism – think Mar gare t T ha t cher but with a
elimina tion of these forms of p rejudic e as the remedy t o
socie tal ills. B ut t o be Woke req uires more than this, it cap e – whose value t o feminism seems t o c onsist only in ac ting
as a role-model for nasc en t girl-bosses ready t o lean in and
requires tha t one adop t the p s ycholo gy of sin, tha t one
inhabit the mindse t of the p enit en t and give over t o the sna t ch the reins of e xp loita tive capitali sm from the here t ofore
guilty c onscienc e, t o polic e oneself; but it is also t o p olic e p rivileg ed boy s.
Wokeness takes these instanc es of rep resen ta tion as
o ther s, t o adop t the role of the uny ielding churc hman, or
the p arty ap p ar a t chik, ever ready t o denounc e and shame signific an t bec ause it situa t es p ro gress in the social and p olitical
sp heres alongside the emer g enc e of a p reoc c up a tion with ma tt er s
those who tr ans gress – or are p erc eived t o tr ans gress –
the boundaries delinea t ed by the Woke. Wokeness has of diver sity in c ultur al p roduc tion. I n its iden tifica tion of p ro gress
on issues of equality with the p revalenc e of diver sity in cultur al
in troduc ed a f alse p ie ty in t o cultur al life; one whic h limits
imagina tion, dulls our critic al f aculties, and has stirred art e f acts, Wokeness trivialises the very p r incip les it p urp orts t o
advoca t e in subverting resolve for a ffecting soc ial p ro gress in t o
febrile ang er in t o cultur al life; one tha t is direct ed against
t okens of sup er ficial, cultur al ep hemer a, and w or se still, in t o
artistic and social e xp ression, and as such, rep resen ts a
diver sion of pro gressive ener gies a w ay f rom those p erforma tive social-media signalling.
T he p henomenon of ‘clicktivism’ – where social media activity
structures of p o w er, namely the p revailing ec onomic and
p olitical rela tions in whic h real and lasting re form w ould is mistaken for serious, c ommitt ed ac tion for social c hang e – is
no t ed for its c onc eit. S o it is no surp rise t o see tha t the Woke
deliver bene fits t o all. Wokeness is the p a tholo gy
c orrup ting c on t emp or ary culture; a w arp ing of our movemen t can lar g ely be tr ac ed back t o social media, p artic ularly
t o Twitt er. It is here w e observe judg emen ts of c ondemna tion and
c ollec tive sensibilities t o a sta t e of abnor mality, which
c elebr a tion made in ac c ordanc e with the ideolo gy of Wokeness.
manifests itself in the absurdity p erc eivable all around us.
B ut be fore w e e xamine an alt erna tive vision, le t us e xp lore T hose who are deemed t o have tr ans gressed are ‘called out’:
shamed, reviled, vilified – and w or se – ‘c anc elled’. To be
these absurdities of Wokeness.
T he dismal e ffects of Wokeness are most ap p aren t in canc elled is t o be subject ed t o bo th boyc o tt and p ublic humilia -
tion.
art and culture. Mor al c ensoriousness r arely enc our ag es
grea t art, but its deprecia ting e ffects are only w or sened
when c oup led with a critical a ttitude tha t pr aises and ur g es
the iden tific a tion of aesthe tic merit with p olitical and social AGAINST
g oals.
WOKENESS

23 By Mahdi Malik